There will be champagne and congratulations flowing as Elsie and Bert Hunt toast each other for their star sapphire anniversary.

The couple will be joined for their celebration by their bridesmaids, Barbara Stead and Audrey Pointer, who accompanied Elsie down the aisle 65 years ago tomorrow.

More than 20 people will gather at The Queen’s Stand, Epsom Downs, to raise a congratulatory glass to the couple whose golden and diamond anniversaries are now well in the past and are heading for their platinum anniversary.

The couple, who have one son, Robert, who lives close by in Burgh Heath Road, still enjoy gardening and a weekly bingo session.

"We are so pleased that everyone is coming to join us for our celebration," said Mrs Hunt.

When they tied the knot it was the year that the siege of Stalingrad came to an end, there was an uprising in the Warsaw ghetto and it was the year of the Dambusters heroics.

Closer to home Glenn Miller enchanted listeners with his version of Begin the Beguine and a rather pathetic song by Harry Roy, When Can I have a Banana Again? reflected the wartime rationing hardships.

Elsie, 86, spent time in service at Woodcote House in Epsom in her teens before moving away to Wiltshire and has now come full circle, living in Oakmead Green, Woodcote Side, Epsom with Bert, 86 who spent his working life on the railways.